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Topic: Hello from New York City! (Read 1295 times)

Just wanted to introduce myself - I'm a native of Michigan but have been living in New York (first Rochester, then NYC) for the last 15 years. I'm an avid cook and amateur sugar artist/pastry chef, but since cutting sugar out of my diet, I don't have much use for my sugar skills anymore! I've replaced sugar in my diet with cheese for the most part, so I think it's time to pick up a new hobby and make something that I can actually eat!

Anyway, I've been reading your posts and I'm amazed at the amount of valuable information - you guys are great! I'm planning to try my first batch of cheese (mozzarella, I think) in a couple of weeks, and will continue to read until then to ensure success! In the meantime, are there any books you would recommend for a beginner? Or other equipment? I'm planning to start with soft cheeses that don't require molds, but I will likely eventually want to do other things. Ricotta salata is sounding good to me right now, actually!

Anyway, thanks for reading and sharing your experience and expertise. This board rocks!

Welcome aboard. It sounds like you have the right idea starting with the soft cheese's first, as that's what we have heard from everyone in the way of advice.

My wife and I are brand new cheesemakers with two cheeses under our belts...a mozeralla that we call mozicotta because we didn't quite get the consistency right (still a great cheese...because it's spreadable, it was great on crackers), and a successful mozzerella.

as far as books go, you may want to have a look at Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Delicious Cheeses by Ricki Carrol. this was reccomended to us from where we buy our cheese, beer, and wine making supplies, and it's provided us with some great ideas, and made us comfortable with the process.

Welcome to the forum. Boy a move from upstate to the real downstate. I live about 70 miles north of the city and love going there, but would not care to live there. Sounds like you have a good plan to start your cheese making. Have a look at the library section of the forum also for book recommendations.

Many find starting with soft cheeses easier as non aged and thus faster cycle to result and with some, you need minimal special ingredients/equipment. You can start with some non-rennet cheese but soon people find they need to get some rennet which is either mail order or I found locally at one of two Whole Foods Store's here in Houston, USA.

Welcome! Enjoy your cheesemaking adventures! As suggested, start at the public library, rather than buying up all kind of books. I found Ricki's book to be a good starting spot, but once I had some experience, noticed quite a few discrepancies and holes in the info.

Mozz is a great starter cheese, especially as you can make pizza with it right away.

Ditto on the books at the libarary. Most cheese books might not be that expensive but you'll soon learn as others have mentioned the lack of actual information in them. But Welcome and enjoy yourself here.

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Life is like a box of chocolates sometimes too much rennet makes you kill people.

Well, as luck would have it, my boyfriend decided to get me Ricki Carroll's book for my birthday - just got it on Friday, along with rennet, CaCl, citric acid and starter culture that I ordered from New England Cheesemaking! YAY!!!!!!! Now I just need time to make some darn cheese! Hopefully this weekend. I love the way you guys record your experiences with photos and such and plan on doing the same - will post when my first experience is complete!

It really is necessary if you want to be able to progress in cheese making. You need to record the break and the curd at different stages so you remember what you did so you can go do the same next time.

Logged

Life is like a box of chocolates sometimes too much rennet makes you kill people.